With apologies to our friend Carol, who trudged around Costa Rica for a week with one particular quarry in mind, and who left empty-handed, we can report that we visited the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and saw her prized Quetzal before we even left the parking lot.

“Like a waterfall of teal” See what I mean? Kudos to Zoe for getting these pictures with our point-and-shoot camera.

It’s true. We walked to the reserve from our house, about 700 meters away from the front gates, and saw about 20 people standing in the parking lot looking up. Being a veteran of the US National Park System, I sensed something exciting was afoot. I asked a man who looked like a guide: “At what are everyone seeing here?” (This is an approximation of my Spanish now that I’m not speaking it every day.  Many people here speak fine English.) And he replied, “Why, the resplendent Quetzal, senor.” “Resplendent” almost always modifies this bird in these parts.

The girls didn’t ignore the coati.

Sure enough, like a waterfall of metallic teal feathers from a high branch in a tree, serenely sat the bird that brings thousands and thousands of expensive cameras with long lenses to Costa Rica. Moreover, as I was inside buying our tickets and inquiring if there was a chance of getting a guide through the preserve, Jen and the girls spotted two more Quetzals (slighly-less-resplendent females). Anyone who bothered to look down saw a trio of coatis, which are like mild-mannered racoons with long noses, practically doing synchronized acrobatics in a empty parking space trying to garner some attention.

Cool, yes. Resplendent? Maybe not.

It was almost too much. As it turned out, it was almost everything we saw for the day. If animals were so easy to find you were in danger of parking your car on top of them, who needs a guide?  Am I right?  Actually, no. We guided ourselves through the preserve enjoying lovely scenery and appreciating the well-marked, well-maintained trails, but all we managed to observe of the fauna was a big millipede and several nondescript birds. To be sure, we must have walked by dozens of lovely specimens invisible to our un-trained and un-magnified eyes.

Now, a waterfall of water

A suspension bridge gave a view into the top of the canopy.

We might have opted for a guide — they are highly recommended here — if we could have used a credit card to pay for his services, but all of the reserve’s guides were booked and the mercenary squad only accepts cash. Our visit to the Bank of Costa Rica was scheduled for the afternoon. Also, it seems that the pricing system here does not favor our family. One person can rent a guide for $18, it seems, but a family of five has to pay $18 per person, which sounded a little steep for us. Even after the guy told us he’d waive the fee for Lanie it was a little steep.

The reserve turned out to be a nice place to stroll. We saw a waterfall, lots of cool flowers (which also might have benefitted from a guide’s description) and nice views from a lookout point.

After visiting the reserva, we headed back to our house. (The Quetzals had migrated, but the coatis were still scampering around the parking lot.) Nadia and I walked a few kilometers into town to visit the cajero automatico, then we met the rest of the family at a pizza place that turned out to be several degrees nicer than we expected or were dressed for. Who puts a nice restaurant two miles out past where the paved road ends? At least we were there early enough that there were few people to offend with our emphatic lack of resplendency.

During our walk, Nadia and I also checked out a store run by a cooperative of local artisans. It was a Monteverde version of Durham’s own Main Street Makery. It’s good for us that our travel schedule restricts us from buying large items. The furniture, particularly the hand-made wooden chairs in Nicaragua, were beautiful. The hammocks are appealing, too, but even these are just too big for us to haul around.  Save our money for more tours, that’s what I say.

Tomorrow we’ll take the rest of the family to the coop to see what they think.